New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to frame regulations and by-laws within two months to prevent destruction of old buildings representing the heritage of the city.

Hearing a petition by the Indian National Trust for Culture and Heritage (Intach), a bench of Justices y.k. sabharwal and h.k. sema directed the corporation to frame the regulations and by-laws to check the pulling down of old historical buildings, though they did not figure in the heritage building list.

The bench directed the corporation to complete the exercise in two months and asked it to send the regulations to the Delhi government for its comments. The court said the Delhi government should forward the regulations and by-laws with comments to the Centre in two weeks.

Posting the matter for further hearing in the last week of July, it asked all parties concerned to file their affidavits.

Intach had alleged that many old buildings of the city, which had played some role or the other in history, were being pulled down by builders for construction of high-rise buildings.

Asserting that many such heritage buildings in old Delhi were in a dilapidated state and were on the verge of collapse due to neglect, the trust had sought a directive from the court for their upkeep.

Order reserved on salary scam

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its orders on the issue of interim relief to employees of the sick Bihar Road Transport Corporation and workers of other such defunct state units who had not been paid salaries for years, reports our legal correspondent.

Hingorani alleged that non-payment of salaries had led to suicides and requested the court to direct the government to pay their salaries immediately. Sorabjee said the state government was the sole or majority shareholder of the corporations and hence was responsible to pay the salaries.

Bhushan contended that the Bihar government had no such liability and suggested selling the assets of all sick units under court supervision and paying the salaries from the proceeds.

He also suggested that salaries could be paid if the Centre contributed 80 per cent of the total liability while Bihar and Jharkhand governments contributed 10 per cent each.

$33-million hair export per year

New Delhi (PTI): India exports human hair and its products worth $33 million annually, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday. China, Hong Kong, Tunisia and the US are among the top importing countries, minister of state for commerce Rajiv Pratap Rudy said in a written reply.

As there is no specific restriction on the import and export of human hair, the trading can be done freely, the minister said.

Couple robbed

Phagwara (PTI): Newly-married daughter of a Congress leader and her husband were robbed of gold ornaments worth Rs 40,000 by two men near Sarhalo Ranuan village. Police said Congress leader Ram Swaroop Langar alleged that his daughter Amandip was going on a scooter with her husband to meet a relative when two miscreants on another scooter attacked them.

LPG cylinder blast

New Delhi (PTI): Three persons were severely burnt when a lpg cylinder in south Delhi burst on Friday. Fire department officials said Ramchander, Lakhan and Madhusudan of Dakshinpuri, were seriously burnt when the cooking gas cylinder exploded at 5 am.

4 of family shot

Patna: Four members of a backward caste family were gunned down in a village in Naugachia district under Bhagalpur division, reports our special correspondent. Police said 12 armed men raided Khari village around 8 am and targeted the house of the backward caste family, shooting dead its four members after dragging them out. The murders sparked off retaliatory attacks.

Lioness dies

Ranchi (PTI): One of the two lionesses brought from Orissa’s Nandan Kanan Zoo to Birsa Zoological Park a few months ago has succumbed to disease. In Jim Corbett National Park in Uttaranchal, a tiger cub died of illness, forest department sources said.

Mother kills girls

Batala (PTI): A mother allegedly drowned her two minor daughters in a bucket at Mann Nagar on Friday. Police said the motive of the murder was not known.

Lessons in a computer training programme for Tamil Nadu legislators began with instructors teaching them to enter the word “Amma”, a term used reverentially by the ruling ADMK when referring to chief minister Jayalalithaa, a CPI MLA told the Assembly.